The Merciless
by Phantomthiefwriter
Summary: Edward was assigned to a town where multiple people are disappearing, of all ages, gender and a major variable, if they are alchemists. Investigating the unknown, Edward finds himself to be one of the missing persons and restrained to a cold table and they're calling him Number #9 to be experimented on to see how he can handle particular situations. Will he turn to the merciless?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The beginning of it All

Prologue

Edward was close to reaching consciousness, trying to peel open his eyes but failing to do so as they were so heavy, Edward though he would never be able to open them as they felt like weights were on them and stitched close to help. With patience and determination he had finally opened his eyes

Edward had woke up on a cold and hard surface, goosebumps loitering on his skin with confusion boggling his now awakening mind.

Groggily he tried to turn his head but he soon found himself unable to perform such a simple task, He found that he had failed to realize that his head was bound to the hard surface that he found himself so familiar with now.

Trying to move his eyes to the best of his ability he tried to get an idea of his surroundings. He was in a lightly dimmed room and noticed that not only was his head restrained his ankles and his wrists were also bound to the surface making his mobility confined to small movements of his hands and his feet.

Trying to better his surroundings he had also noticed that he was spared trousers as his only source of warmth and dignity, he was not wearing any other article of clothing which made him shiver.

 _What is this? What's going on? How did I get here? What was he doing prior to waking up here? How did he get to this place? Why would someone want to hold him hostage in the first place? He was keeping his military status on the down low, he was not in central from the last time he can remember. Had he been with Al? Was he with anyone?_

Edward tried to remember to the best of his ability, but seems like whatever happened to him in the first place gave him short term memory loss.

 _Was he injected with a drug if he is having some memory loss? Is it affecting any other part of his body? His vision? Was normal for Edward as usual, his hearing? Seemed fine as it was quite quiet in the place he had found himself in. Drugs can have some effects on memory if administered any type of route_

 _Somebody must had used a sedative of some kind in order to knock him out. But how? Orally would have taken to slow and he would be sure he would know if somebody was trying to give him intravenous meds without his will. He would have kicked them in the face. Topically? IM injection of subcutaneously? Most probable, but what type of drug would have taken effect drastically. Most likely a high dose of something._

 _But what kind of method? Something that would have taken place without knowing someone was targeting him in the first place. A dart? Most likely even if he could have felt it when it was place, it must have been thrown from a place he was not expecting to be ambushed at. His reaction time would have not been as effective with the element of surprise mixed with drugs as it would have taken effect immediately._

 _Damn. Got to be more careful in the future._

Edward tried to budge is restraints but seems like they were fastened with diligence and even his auto mail arm and leg would not budge the restraints. Seems like his abductor is well educated in his scope of work. He was at a disadvantage, unable to use his alchemy as he can't clap and he had no materials in order to make an array.

 _Unless…_

Edward started to dig his left fingernails into his palm in effort to draw any blood but his fingers were coated in a hard surface making him unable to do so.

"Well fuck" he said to no one in particular.

The light turned on brighter, the sudden change making Edwards eyes to constrict and make him see black spots to try to adjust to the new level of light.

Edward heard footsteps around his head unable to see who came to him

"Hello and good evening Edward Elric, Better known as the Full metal Alchemist, Subject number nine".

Prologue END

Edward was assigned to go to a neighbouring town related to central undercover to investigate the sudden disappearance to civilians and reported alchemists that were not involved with the military.

Edward sat in Colonel Roy Mustang's office on the couch slouching, irritated and rolling his eyes in annoyance to Roy.

"And why tell me, am I the best candidate for this mission? And I demand not to hear any bull shit out of your mouth Mustang. If they know an alchemist such as myself suddenly goes into a town where people, alchemists are disappearing wouldn't they turn me into a target?!" Ed said in a slightly raised voice

"Like why not send someone that is not known by the people? Wouldn't you think that would give you a better chance? Are you stupid? Do you have enough oxygen going to your brain or something? Brain bleed?"

"My brain is quite fine Full metal, but thanks for the ever so concern. And because Full metal, I want you to on this mission. I think you are the best option and well frankly because Alphonse is known to be you because of the armor and now we have your status covered. Plus this town doesn't really associate with the military as they are pretty independent as a town, so chances that they'll find out who you are quite slim" Roy replied in a defensive tone making Edward rethink the mission.

"I am also sorry to announce that Alphonse does not have authority to go with you on this mission as it would pull attention to yourself and your cover. To make things safer because we don't know who the actual culprit is you'll also be going in minor disguise, nothing to major, just to make sure that no one can pick you out of a crowd if they actually know who you are. This way you will have a slight disadvantage if you find and go after the culprit. You will have you Alchemy, Martial Arts and the element of surprise, plus you're a pretty small kid I'm sure the town wouldn't be suspicious of a kid passing through".

Edward turned red and stepped up to the colonel a fist at his throat.

"Do you think... that... Once in your god forsaken life not make a fucking remark on my height?" Edward said through his teeth and stepped back.

"Wow Edward, I am surprised that you didn't throw one of your childish tantrums, are you trying to become more adult like or control your temper?" Roy said in a degrading tone.

"Shut it. Al said I get angry to often and I should learn to control it. So. Here I am. Trying to control it. But in my defense people are always trying to get a reaction out of me".

"It's... quite fun to do. I am not going to lie. Back to the actual subject at hand…"

"Right" Ed paused, "How convenient is it that this is taking place while Al and I are in the middle of a breakthrough of research on how to bring his body back without the use of a philosopher's stone. I just basically saw his body in the gate while trying to get out of gluttony's stomach."

"I know you're disappointed that you will have to step away from you research for an unspecified amount of time but this is important. And frankly I believe that it is more important than your research. You have been researching nonstop for weeks and you have not found anything to make any further progress with it. I know you have made a promise to your brother to get your bodies back but this is important, people are disappearing, and while you don't have your bodies, you still have your lives and time to get your research done, we don't know if these people are dead, have hours until they're dead or if they are alive".

"I hate that you have a point you bastard. Ok I guess I'm in and I think it's safer for Al not to come and to remain here while I'm gone, just don't tell him that, I'll never hear the end of it. Where am I going and when. How many people have actually gone missing? Do we have any information on why they would go missing in the first place? And do we think that they had a reason for kidnapping civilians and alchemists? Or perhaps they just made a random selection?"

Roy sighed and pinched the middle of his brow's indicating that a headache was about to occur.

"Four persons have been reported missing thought it may be more, two females and two males, one pair consisting of 1 male and female were alchemists while the other pair were not. We have no information on why these people have been missing, but there's limited evidence that this could be related to another case that is quite similar to the ratio of who has been taken but it is only a theory".

"I'm listening" Edward pushed for Mustang to continue.

"Wait a minute! Is it possible that they are two couples that are going somewhere? I mean it is two females and two males, an even amount of people, I mean aren't there possibilities that they made two couples? I mean young people are always going places right? Not that I um, actually know what people do when they are in a relationship. It's not like I've been in one before. Because of circumstances of course".

"They also have a different variable than gender. Age, one set of people were elder while the other two were young adults".

"Ok then, Parent's and their children?

"Ed." Roy said sternly

"Right of course, I guess we should still look for these people."

"We already researched the fact that they could be family but rest assured they aren't"

"Well sorry for interrupting"

"So let me guess the ratio was one female and one male that were young and the other two people were old?" Ed questioned.

"Correct, continuing on what I was explaining before, it had some similarities of another case that occurred a few years prior. People reported that they were missing family pets, Dogs to be precise and the common variable was the same as the missing people, two males and two females, one set older than the other and we found both sets of dogs dead, as if they were experimented on".

Edward felt disgusted, no one regardless of pet or human deserved to be experimented on.

"Like what kind of experiments are we talking about? And are we sure that it's related to the present? With humans?"

"Like I said, it's just a theory with that had the same types of variables. I just connected them"

"So it's just what you are speculating on isn't it? And you want me to go investigate to see if there's any more similarities than you going to do it? Hmm?"

Roy Smirked.

"Seems like you caught me, however I am not able to do this as I am busy with other… projects but in my perfect judgement I thought you would work on this case as I am able to actually trust your judgement no matter how stupid it can be".

"Can't say I am flattered, colonel bastard, seems like you just want me to do your work for you, but again like again like you said, my research isn't getting anywhere, which is unfortunate. Maybe a change of pace and scenery will open my mind to other possibilities".

The door suddenly opened and lieutenant Hawkeye was standing in the door way.

"Yes Hawkeye, what is it?"

"We just got report that four more people have been reported missing". Hawkeye professionally said.

"Shit, okay who has been kidnapped in terms of age, gender?" Roy had asked.

"Two female and two males, 1 set of male and female is old the other set young".

"And is there any significant differences that you can mention?" Edward asked.

"Yes, while the first four that disappeared were that the younger set were alchemists and the older set were civilians and now with these four people its vice versa".

"So the older set that were abducted this time were alchemists?" Edward stated to confirm with Hawkeye.

Hawkeye gave Edward a small nod.

Edward brought his hand to his chin as if he was taking a moment to think.

"Damn, that's suspicious as hell. What's the reasoning?" Edward whispered to himself.

"There is definitely a pattern occurring here" Edward had told the other two.

"Yes, we better get you prepared and set off to start investigating". Roy had agreed.

"Yeah I agree, but you haven't told me what type of experiments were happening with the dogs?"

"We actually never ended up finding out why such experiments ever occurred, we never got the purpose, but it seems that it may be likely that it is occurring again based on who has been reported missing". Roy told with his brows furrowed.

"Okay, let's get me a train and I will go back to our dorms and pack".

"Affirmative".

Edward was back in his dorm room attempting to pack with Alphonse.

"What do you mean I can't come with you? You'll basically be putting yourself in trouble. Are you stupid Brother?"

"Sorry Al, not my idea, it's that colonel bastard idea, plus I have to agree with him, I don't want you to be in a predicament where I can't help you and I just want you to be safe, especially in what happening right now".

"Do you really think I wouldn't be able to protect myself if I were to find myself in something like that? I've been in situations, where I've protected myself mind you, and without you to boot and I was fine!"

"You don't think I know that?! Damn this is why I didn't want you to know in the first place. I'm sorry Al, but this is something I need to do by myself. I love you Al but these are military orders, plus I feel like this could be an eye opener for both of us. Maybe it will help with our research since we are always together, we will most likely think of something and then we can apply it after we discuss. I won't even be gone that long. Like 2-3 days top!"

"Okay brother, I see where you are coming from, I hope you have a good trip and find what you are looking for, but make sure it doesn't get in the way of why you're going in the first place. The mission, the missing people".

"You have no reason to be worried, when have I ever let my own personal interests become in the way of a mission I've been assigned to?"

Edward has said looking smug, crossing his arms and feeling contempt. Alphonse just stilled and stared at his brother breaking out into laughter.

"What?!" Edward said startled.

"Are you seriously saying that Ed? You always let your personal interests be first!"  
"No I don't! Sometimes they just happen to… be… more… important than the actual task at hand..."

Alphonse hummed in confirmation

"So you're basically telling me that I'm right?"

"Nope! Not true! Never" Ed teased Al.

"But in all seriousness, I really hope you're able to find some information about the missing people so it can bring their families to peace, I also hope that they're alive and well. Nobody deserves to be taken away".

"I know, I hope I'm able to find something to help, hell I hope I can find them and beat the fucker who did this in the first place".

"You will make you that you will be safe though right? I wouldn't know what I would do without you'.

"I'll be fine, you'll be fine, and you would be fine even if something did happen to me".

"I don't even want to think about that right now. Let's get you packed up and ready, the train is going to depart in about an hour".

Edward turned to look at the clock hung up on the wall, and his eyes widened with surprise.

"Fuck! I better hustle my fucking ass!"

Getting to the train station was hell, like always. Streets are always piled up with people and they don't even have the decency to move when you're in a hurry.

Alphonse was behind Ed, voice louder than the crowd

"Well maybe if you just packed faster than wait twenty minutes to decide on what research materials to bring than focus on actually packing. You're going to help the people and then our research can come secondly."

"I know! I know! I don't need you or mustang nagging on me for being late, plus who knows I may have some free time".

The Elric brothers saw Mustang walking through the busy crowd at the station holding a small brief.

He finally approached the two brothers.

"Ah, finally, you're here. Only took you 10 more minutes later than the train's boarding time, I think that has to be a new record". Roy had teased lightly.

"Ah shut up fucker, I'm here aren't I?" Edward had questioned back.

"I suppose so, but really you better get onto the train sooner than later, ah first a word though, Alphonse can you give us a minute?" Mustang had asked the younger brother.

"Ah yes of course, go ahead" Alphonse replied while moving a considerable distance.

"What's in the bag?" Ed had asked

Mustang had handed it over to Edward to grab

"It's your disguise"

"Couldn't give it to me earlier couldn't you?"

"I was busy filling out a permit for you to go on this "Mission"."

"They don't know do they? You're just sending me under your speculation".

"Ding Ding Ding!"

"Greaaaatt" Ed replied sarcastically.

"You didn't tell him the full details of why I'm sending you right? I know you're close but this is technically classified information between you and me. Central just thinks that you're going based on speculation of prolonging your research, if they knew the real reason this wouldn't be happening".

"Why because would think it's too dangerous to even look for the people or are they tired of the bullshit coming out of your mouth". Ed snickered

"You're not wrong, put on the disguise as soon as you go inside the train. Now go say goodbye to your brother, and good luck Full Metal". Roy had left without giving Edward any second thoughts or explanation.

Edward was left dumbfounded with his mouth hanging open.

 _Did that bastard admit that he was actually right? And he couldn't celebrate? Geez Mustang definitely won't hear the end of it when he comes back"._

Alphonse returned to his brother when Mustang had made his leave.

"Close your mouth before you catch flies. What's wrong?" Al asked curiously.

"Nothing! Just Mustang actually admitted I was right at pointing something out at him".

"Now that's a first!"

"I'd better start going Al, the train is about to leave any minute and I don't really feel like running after it again."

"You're right, I better let you make your way".

Alphonse had scooped up his brother in a tight hug

"Can't…. breathe!"

Al let Ed down.

"Sorry brother, I'm just going to miss you!"

"I'm going to miss you too Al but it's only a couple days I'll be back before you know it!" Ed had said positively.

"I sure hope so! Good luck brother!"

"Bye Al!"

And with that and farewells Edward finally made his way onto the train.

Too be continued…

Author Note:

Not sure if many will read this but thanks for reading! Hopefully I'll be updating frequently because always setting up the story and setting can be boring for me and especially for the readers! I promise it will pick up soon

Phantomthiefwriter 3


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: The application

Edward had stepped onto the train after saying his goodbyes to Alphonse on the platform. As he got onto the train his eyes starting darting around the inside of the train for an empty seat with no one else surrounding him. He wanted to be alone with no one else to interrupt him while he was briefing through his notes. Alone on a mission is not ideal but he'll have to deal.

Finally finding what he was searching for Edward sat down and put his suitcase on the empty seat beside him and left the small bag that Mustang had given him for a disguise on his lap.

He unzipped the bag and opened it and took a peek inside to see the contents.

Looking through the bag Edward found simple things, a change of clothes consisting a dress shirt, skirt and tights, shoes with a small heel.

"What?" Edward had said with confusion marking his voice.

Edward had pulled out a brassiere.

Looking around the area making sure that no one saw the contents of the bag, he quickly put the brassiere back in the bag and quickly got to his feet clutching the bag to his chest and went to look for a private changing room.

Once he reached a room he quickly shut the door behind him and leaned his back on it releasing a relieved sigh.

"Oh hell no! Edward Silently screamed".

Edward had nothing against disguising as a woman, but he didn't want to seem like a pervert for having these cloths without a reasonable explanation.

 _Young man why is it that you have those clothes? Um you know because I need it for a disguise for infiltrating a town where people are going missing._

Edward let out a scoff.

 _As if he could use the actual explanation._

Edward looked in the bag once more hopefully looking for any other types of clothing, instead there was a note.

It read;

" _Full metal, here is the disguise that I have provided you with, I know it is not what you were expecting but maybe this will help your chances of being targeted by the abductor especially if we aren't going to publicize you being the full metal alchemist. Plus a majority of people believe that females are weaker targets than men, hereby granting you the opportunity of you having a greater chance of finding the abductor and finding the missing persons, And do not deny that you weren't going to go investigate like I originally wanted you to but you will probably run into the culprit and then bring them to justice. Sincerely, Roy Mustang"._

"Who thinks that women are weak?" Edward said angrily.

 _All of the women that he knows and met are extremely strong and independent individuals, and can kick ass"._

Ed shuddered at the thought of his old alchemy teacher Izumi Curtis.

"Whatever, I will be a kick ass woman". Edward had no time for Colonel Mustang's sexist bullshit.

Edward spilled the rest of the contents of the bag and began to undress and change, once he was finished he returned to his spot and it looked like nobody had noticed the change that just occurred. He sat and waited to deportation.

The Unknown:

Someone pounded on a hard door alerting the man in the room that someone had news to share.

"Come in". The man had replied.

"Yes Sir". A timid voiced had called behind the door, the door creaked open and the speaker closed the door behind him and approached the other man.

"You bring me good news I hope?"

"We got the other four people that you required Sir, now he have the four groups that you needed to start the experiments on".

"Perfect, start with group one with basic tasks first, vitals and weight and then you can start them on the sensory deprivation examinations first and then report back to be then continue with groups two, three and fore and then have a detailed report on your findings, then the real examinations can begin".

"Yes Sir!" the timid man had left with a quick pace.

"Ma'am... Ma'am?"

Edward felt someone shaking his shoulder trying to wake him from his well needed slumber.

 _Ma'am? Why are they calling him ma'am? Oh right. The disguise_

Edward slowly opened his eyes and blinked a few times to clear his vision, he sat up and straighten himself up crossing his arms and began to speak with a higher pitch and tone of voice.

"I'm up! I'm up! You can stop shaking me now!"

"I am terribly sorry ma'am but we have reached our destination and you're the last passenger on board, seems like our announcement was not loud enough for you to hear that you needed to exit the train". The train host had said.

Edward deadpanned.

"Obviously, Sorry I'll make my way and leave".

Edward begun to take his bag and leave the train before shouting;

"Learn how to be respectable to women you idiot!"

Then he booked it off the train not even having the chance to look behind him and see the host face.

He quickly exited the train station and looked for a hotel.

Once he would be settled he will start asking around for the missing persons.

He was walking through the town and a dirt road. Town was pretty small, small enough for people to take notice if someone was missing. There were only a small amount of shops present and a majority looked closed. The more Ed walked the more he realized that people were beginning to take notice him. Most likely because he was a new face.

Ed had finally reached the only hotel that was in the town. Small but efficient.

Edward walked inside and went up to the front desk where an older gentleman was holding down the ship as the bell on the door rang indicating that there was a new customer. He had looked up from what he was doing and gave Ed a tired smile.

"Ah, a new face hmm? Nice to see someone new!"

"Thanks… May I please get a room?" Edward had asked politely.

"What brings you here Miss…"

"Um… Edna" Edward quickly responded. He forgot to make a false name so he went with something close to his actual name.

"Just here to get away from the stresses of life".

"Funny that you chose out little town, especially with everything that has been going on" The innkeeper replied.

Ed knew what he was talking about, but still he may get more information if he talked obviously about what was happening in the town.

"Wait? What is exactly going on?" Ed said widening his eyes as if in question.

The innkeeper had let out a sigh.

"As of right now eight of our townspeople have gone missing, and without any reason. It's like they just up and left. No evidence why they are gone, we don't even really know if they were taken or not, we normally don't have any bad activity going on here. Our town doesn't even have proper military or police so we haven't really made much progress on investigation, we just know that four of them happened to be alchemists because they made many things for us, now suddenly for them to be gone is strange".

"So you personally believe that all of them wouldn't just up and leave?" Edward asked curiously.

"No I don't they were all dedicated to our little town, same with the other four. In no way would they all just leave without reasoning. All of our town is worried as we have no idea what's going on and we keep on thinking if we are going to be next".

"That's really bad to hear, must be rough. Have you tried contacting central to help at all?" Ed asked.

"I'm not really sure, but enough of that don't let me get you any more stressed out than you already are, you can here to get away from stress not add more, let me get you a room". The innkeeper went to go get a key that opened an empty room.

Edward hadn't learned of anything much to prolong his investigation, seems like central might have not been notified of the situation, but he still had to make sure if they haven't been notified.

 _If there's a probable chance that central haven't been aware of what's going on here, how did mustang know?_

"And here you go!"

The innkeeper had interrupted Edward's thoughts.

"Room number 9! One of our very best! Fresh towels are there for you if you need them and home cooked meals are at 0800, 1200 and 1700 if you would like to join me for some grub!"

The innkeeper held out a small key with the number nine engraved on it.

Edward smiled and took the key.

"I'll definitely take you on that offer for dinner! Thanks!"

Edward had left and went to the borrowed room.

After settling in his room Edward looked at his watch.

It read 1645, which was just in time for dinner. After eating he would start on investigating.

Edward went to where dinner was being held, looked like he was the only one there other than the innkeeper.

"Are we the only ones who are here in your hotel?"

"Sadly yes". The innkeeper said.

"Yet you still made dinner?"

"Well you are my guest, I never usually get any so I had some time, and you're the only one who sleeps here right now other than me".

"Thank you, you know you didn't have to do that but sure am I glad you did".

Edward went to sit down in the dining area where the innkeeper had set up a small kitchenette. He walked over holding a pot full of what looks like to be Edward's favourite".

"I made stew, I hope that's okay with you".

"It's perfect!" Edward shouted excitingly.

The innkeeper smiled.

"I'm glad".

He had poured a bowl for Edward and then one for himself and handed the bowl to Edward which Edward took gracefully.

Edward dove right into it, finally realizing how famished he actually was.

When he was more than halfway through the bowl the room had started to spin and he felt dizzy and nauseous, almost as if he had been drugged with an anesthetic. With a heavy head he looked up from his bowl to the man in front of him.

The innkeeper looked full of regret and guilty of what he just done.

"Why?" Edward slurred his words?

"I'm sorry, I was told to do this or he'd kill my family, he still has them. I had to let him know if anyone from out of town came here, I really hoped no one would as we are a non-busy town but here you are".

Edward tried to move but felt himself fall to the floor, the last thing seeing was the man coming close to his side until the darkness took over.

Watching the young woman fall to the floor, the innkeeper went to pick her up and move her to the front entrance. He had struggled with picking her up, she was heavier than he expected her to be. She was quite small. Finally lifting her up, he brought her to the entrance and set her on the floor gently and made sure that the door was locked and the curtains closed.

He walked behind the front desk and dialed a number trembling, he kept on flickering his eyes to the door and the other person in the room, making sure that no one could ever know that he had helped the person in charge of the kidnappings.

One day while he was attending to the inn with his family the lights had suddenly flickered on and off before turning off entirely and then he heard the safety from a gun click next to his ear. Making his heart pound.

A Whispered voice had begun to talk to the innkeeper.

"If you don't help me with what I need done, I assure you that these bullets will go in your wife's and son's head cavity".

The lights had turned back on, his son and wife were in his view, standing in front of him, bounded by a tight rope and mouth concealed with one man holding them both captive.

The whispered voice spoke again.

"Do you understand what this means?"

The innkeeper franticly nodded his head.

"Good, now's here what you are going to do to ensure your family's safety".

The man holding the gun presented a simple card with a number printed on it and a container concealed with a top.

"If you see someone from out of town come into you inn you are to contact me after administering this medication".

The innkeeper had the guts to speak.

"May I ask why?"

The gun moved closer to his head.

"I don't want my research to be disrupted, it is important to me and other's that it gets completed. Do you understand?"

The innkeeper nodded once more.

The gun holder tilted his head to the man holding the family and nodded.

"Take them".

The innkeeper begun to silently weep.

"Don't worry, I will return them when my experiments are completed. Don't report them missing or contact the authorities or you and them are dead."

He pointed the gun at the wife and son, the both of them trembling in fear, unable to move or speak a single word.

Soon he was the only one left in the hotel.

A voice had picked up the other end of the line.

"Yes?" the voice on the phone had said, as if he were expecting a phone call at any given moment.

"Someone came to the hotel, a women from out of town".

"Seems likely sent to investigate the participants. My men and I are on the way, Great job, your family is in safe hands" the voice had said mischievously.

"You mean you'll let the go?" the innkeeper said with some hope in his voice.

"Not yet, more people may come, plus I told you not until I am finished with my work".

He had hung up.

The innkeeper adverted his eyes to the subject on his floor. She hadn't moved, now all he could do is wait.

After what seemed like hours three knocks where pounded on the door. The innkeeper let out a huff and went to open the door. The man he had come in contact with gun had returned with his goon.

The man looked at the subject on the floor.

"She looks really familiar". He had stated.

"Pick her up and let's go" he ordered the goon.

The goon had did as he was ordered.

The innkeeper suddenly found himself in contact with the wall, the gun holder's arm in the crevice of his throat, constricting his airway.

"Again, if you tell anyone about what happened here it's one, two, three bang bang, dead? Let us know if anyone else comes".

He had let go of the innkeeper and begun for the door, opening, leaving and closing it.

As soon as they came they left. Leaving the innkeeper alone to deal with his sin.

The gun holder took in a breath of cold air. Now he had another subject, but what variable to place her under. The number was now odd. That didn't fit right with him at all. He needed it to be even. Now he needed to find one more participant and the he would have ten people. Ten people seemed like a good number to work with.

He noticed that his accomplice had a confused look on his face, obviously conflicted by something.

"Frank, what is it? You're making yourself look stupid".

"It just seems like she's too heavy for what she actually is. I just noticed that one of her arms are metal and her tight ripped on her left leg exposing what looks like to me another metal limb and while holding her she really didn't feel like the other female participants, Dr. Greenleaf, I think that they are actually male".

Dr. Greenleaf had made his way over, examining the person in question.

 _He has two metal limbs, auto mail obviously, blonde hair._

He lifted one of Edward's eyelids. Gold

 _Golden Eyes._

Something clicked in his mind.

 _He has all the similarities to one of the military alchemists that I have on record._

He could almost smack himself in the head for being stupid, of course he knew who this was.

"No wonder why he looked so familiar to me Frank".

"And why is that boss?" Frank looked at his boss for understanding.

"Because my friend, this is no ordinary woman or man, this is Edward Elric, the Full Metal Alchemist. Now I have an extraordinary alchemist to do examinations and tests on, let us see how an extraordinary alchemist compares to a normal alchemist and normal people".

Dr. Greenleaf smiled a wicked smile.

"This is absolutely perfect!"

Frank smiled at his leader, happy for him and happy to be there for him to help him through this wonderful cause.

"Let's begin out fun!" Dr. Greenleaf had cackled.

Poor Edward for not knowing what he was about to experience.

Author Note:

Okay here we are. Chapter two! Next chapter will focus on our very first experiment! I'm so excited to begin writing this.

Once again thank you to those who actually took time out of their day to read this. It means the entire world to me.

I do work hard on this fanfiction rather than other things I should be doing but it's genuinely one of my favourite things to do so I don't have any complaints.

See you in the next chapter!

-Phantomthiefwriter 3


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Experiment One

"Hello Edward Elric, Full Metal Alchemist, Subject Number Nine".

Edward tried to move his head accordingly with the restraint on his head to look his abductor in the eye. Once he found the speaker he glared his eyes at the man.

The man was older, tall and bulky with salt and pepper hair and his face accompanied a few age lines. He was wearing a lab coat with a black dress shirt and dress pants.

Edward spoke up, anger lingering in his voice.

"What do you mean subject number nine?! You creep! Let me go, let me out of these restraints! I'm not going to just let you do this!"

The man widened his eyes and clasped his hands and a smiled painted his face.

"Well, I must say you are exactly what I expected you to be like! Stubborn and fierce, especially with those glaring eyes looking at me!"

"Oh yeah?! Well I guess you know me well enough to expect me to kick your ass when I'm out of these restraints!"

"And how are you supposed to do that? You have no assess to your alchemy or auto mail, I made sure of that".

Edward was conflicted, and it surely made presence on his face.

Edward furrowed his brows.

"What do you mean? My auto mail is still here, attached to me".

"I made sure to assure you that you'll never be getting out of here with just your strength alone and no help will be coming, I am quite surprised that you did not notice".

Edward's face showed confusion.

 _What could he possibly mean?_

Edward's eyes narrowed down to his right arm, he tried to move it but he felt no sensation, then he tried to the same with his left leg but to no avail, he tried again and felt a little bit of movement. He could still make this work, it would need a little fixing from Ed. Seems like the man really didn't know the full functionality of the false limbs.

"Okay old man, you're only going to make my mechanic angry with me!"

The old man let out a bitter laugh.

"Oh Eddy, Eddy, Eddy".

The old man moved closer to the examination table that Edward was laying on top of.

He released the restraints on Edward's right arm.

As soon as that happened Edward tried to attack the man before he found his efforts to be wasted.

The old man slammed his arm back on the table and pulled the entire limb from sheer strength alone, which left Edward gasping in pain, a burning pain radiated in his shoulder port, vision blurring due to tears in his eyes. Edward felt slightly dizzy because of the pain.

Edward found the urge to caress his shoulder but was unable to do so.

Before he could get a bearing on his surroundings, he felt the same type of pain radiating on his left stump, the pain and dizziness doubling but Ed did not pass out from the pain as he had experienced worse before.

The old man had done the same to his left leg, now leaving Ed completely vulnerable.

"Did you not think I would not take your limbs away? Especially with the choice? You are way too easy and perfect for this role that you are playing. I love the expression on your face".

Edward was diaphoretic and out of breath due to the pain, skin paling.

"Why... didn't you just do this before? While I was unconscious?" Ed said between gasps of air.

"Because I wanted to see the look of despair on your face as I take away the only hopes that you had of escaping. Eddy, Eddy, Eddy, I will not be letting you go anywhere for you are far too valuable. You are a great variable for my research".

That didn't give Edward any comfort. Still he was not going to give up, as long as there's a will there's a way.

More people piled into the room. Approaching Edward's table.

"Start him with the first Exam".

"Wait?! What exam?" Edward screamed out at the man.

The man turned around and started walking towards the exit.

"Wait! Get back here and answer my questions! What exam! Why am I here? Why me? How did I get here? Why am I here in the first place? Who are you?!"

The man stopped walking and spoke enough for Edward to hear even without turning around.

"My, My Eddy, So many questions, questions that can be answered with time. As for your last question".

He dramatically turned around and threw up his arms and smiled and gestured to himself.

"My name is Dr. Greenleaf, pleasure to make your acquaintance!"

And with that he walked out of the room.

Edward couldn't resist the people now at his table as he was bound and had limited mobility.

That didn't stop him from trying to obtain information from them.

He tried to calm his mind, things were not looking good for him.

He felt cold hands on him.

"You guys can't even warm your hands first before touching me?"

No one replied to him.

"Hello? Why are you working with this guy?"

Still no reply.

Edward looked at the people who was above him.

 _What are they doing? Why are they doing this?_

Upon further searching he noticed that the majority of people had a blank stare on their faces. As if they had no emotion or the ability to think, just follow.

Edward felt something go into his right ear and then something slide around his left arm and start to inflate.

He felt this sensation many times before. They were checking his vital signs.

"Hey, why are you taking my blood pressure?"

A voice has actually responded this time.

"Because Dr. Greenleaf required all his subjects to. So we can get a baseline of your vitals and then compare them to other vitals that we will obtain over the variety of different examinations to see how well your body is reacting to them".

"Hmm, never knew that vitals can show so much".

"It is the basics of course, but yes like you said it can show quite a bit".

Another voice spoke, bland and monotone.

"Blood pressure: 143/79, Pulse: 101, Respirations: 18 and temperature: 36.4 Celsius".

"For example readings like this can indicate that the patient is in distress or scared as blood pressure can go up as well as pulse and respirations. This is not what your baseline is normally most likely but it will have to do for now".

Edward deadpanned.

"Great".

"Ok let's get him set up for the real first exam shall we?"

Edward felt someone landmark his left arm before a pinch of pain appeared.

Edward tried to move his eyes to the left side and he saw someone holding an empty syringe and needle.

"What did she just inject me with?" Edward had asked.

"A very strong muscle relaxant, through your left deltoid, intramuscularly, so it will work very, very soon".

"Why?"

"We can't have you try to move or hurt my workers while setting you up in the jacket".

"What kind of jacket?"

"Something to deprive you of touch".

He saw someone come close to him holding a straightjacket.

"Great. Do not put that on me. I refuse".

"I regret to inform you that you don't have a say".

Edward felt the restraints go off, but even if he tried to do something he physically would not be able to".

His body felt heavy, like wet rags, he was unable to lift up his arm or even his head for that matter. He felt his head be picked up and then something covered his eyes, leaving him unable to see".

"What is this?"

"A blindfold to block out vision".

Edward then felt his upper body be sat up and then someone applied the straightjacket and binding his only arm to his chest.

Then he felt his nose be plugged by something soft.

"And those are nose plugs to block out smell"

Edward spoke in a nasal voice.

"You're depriving me of my senses aren't you?"

The voice hummed in confirmation.

"Very smart number nine. The people that we tested before wasn't as calm as you and didn't guess what we were doing, well the alchemists did but that still didn't stop them from trying to fight back".

"Well I know you're not going to get much out of me so why bother and waste my energy? Plus I'm surprised that you're answering my questions and explaining what you're doing even though it is not very ethical".

"Dr. Greenleaf believes that his patients should know what's going on and why we are testing them, how we test them and explain what we are doing".

"I haven't really got an explanation for why though".

"That will come with time".

"I suppose I will be here for a while?"

"Yes".

"It won't take long for central to notice that I'm missing and that something is wrong".

"Don't worry, we have a plan for that, I assure you nobody will even bother looking for you".

"That's very assuring".

"We are now going to block out your hearing, you won't be able to hear anything for many hours".

"Hours?!"

Edward felt his ears being plugged up.

He was completely deprived of touch, smell, vision and hearing.

 _This ought to be fun._

He felt someone lay him back down.

Then nothing. Minutes passed.

His table begun to move to an unknown destination, Edward was picked up and then laid on something that was padded.

 _Did they put him in a padded room?_

Edward just laid there.

He had nothing better to do. He was still unable to move due to the muscle relaxant.

He started to think.

 _What was he doing prior to being abducted?_

He noticed that they were calling him subject nine, so obviously he wasn't the first subject, were there still others here? Possibly being tested? Have they also gone through this? How'd they fair?

He remembered what he was doing prior to this.

 _So Mustang was right, the missing dog case was related to this. They moved on to human experiments. Well at lest he kind of knew where the other eight missing people were._

 _What did they mean nobody would start looking for him? He was only going to be investigating for a little while._

 _How long has it been anyways? A day or a couple?_

 _Couldn't have been_

He remembered the innkeeper.

He had drugged him through the stew. Edward made a mental note to check his food from now on.

 _It felt like hours had passes by. There was only so much you can do._

Edward felt himself grow tired.

 _Maybe sleeping for a few hours will pass the time faster"._

Edward had wondered off to sleep.

"Report".

"Nothing new has happened to subject number nine yet Mr. Miller".

"Well it has only been about two hours, around the fifth hour mark things should start to occur". Miller replied.

"It seems like he fell asleep".

"He fell asleep quite easily, the other subjects didn't even try or felt the need to sleep due to anxiety".

"Correct".

"Continue to monitor".

"Affirmative".

Edward felt himself come out of sleep. He opened his eyes and saw nothing and felt very constricted. His breath started to pick up before he remembered why he was like this in the first place.

He slowed his breathing.

He was still unable to do anything.

 _How long had it been? How long was he expected to stay here? Nothing too drastic had changed._

 _What can he do to escape this place?_

Edward decided to think about how to escape to take up time.

He tried to fall asleep again but his mind and body was not tired.

 _Funny how bored you can get without the full capacity of your senses._

Time passed….

More time passes…

A quiet laugh seemed to have rattled Ed...

Ed was conflicted, trying to move his head to find the source of the laugh.

The laugh got a tad louder, as if moving closer to Edward.

Ed felt unsettled, chills reached to the back of his neck.

Then the laughter suddenly stopped.

Minutes passed.

Then Edward clearly heard the voice again.

"What a predicament you got yourself in".

Edward Spoke.

"Who are you?"

Nobody replied. It was like they disappeared.

Edward's heard footsteps, slow.

One step, two steps, three steps four.

Then nothing.

Suddenly he heard many footsteps, rushed as if they were coming to him.

He thought he felt a brush of a hand on his knee.

"Hello? Who's there?"

Edward sat up quickly, trying to get away from the person.

Edward tried to move his leg to move himself but without the use of his arm he was having a hard time.

Edward felt himself breathing frantically.

"What are you doing here?" a voiced that sounded like his own spoke.

Edward couldn't find it in his heart to reply.

"Why do you exist?"

"Why are you alive?"

"Why are we alive?"

"We should have died when we tried to bring mom back".

Edward felt numb, his eyes and ears heaving, constricted, unable to breathe, his throat tightening, he wasn't getting any oxygen in. he felt tears prickle in the corners of his eyes. He then started to hyperventilate.

 _Why am I alive? I should be dead. All that pain I put Al and everyone through, they would all be better off without me. I should die"._

 _Wait a minute._

 _This doesn't sound like me._

He tried to slow his breathing.

He finally remembered that the uncomfortableness of his ears where caused by the earplugs.

Edward now knew that he didn't hear anything, it was his brain making tricks on him.

Still didn't bring him any comfort. It was still quite unnerving to hear things that were not there.

He was experiencing hallucinations, he needed to ignore them.

 _But is that what my subconscious is thinking?_

 _His real self?_

 _No he was stronger than that, that can't be his true feelings can it?_

 _There were some real truths there though. Damn this experiment!_

Edward took hold of his breathing.

 _Calm down it isn't real._

 _Your brain is filling in things for you, trying to be helpful._

 _But it really isn't._

Edward felt at war with himself.

 _What was the point of this test?_

 _To see how long he could last before going mad?_

 _How bad the hallucinations are?_

 _How long it took him to realize that they weren't real?_

 _To make him fall into a pit of depression?_

Edward wasn't weak, whatever thus was he could work through it,

Couldn't he?

Author notes:

Ah finally the third chapter is up! I haven't been able to have much time for myself lately so I decided to update my story! It's finally going to pick up! Thanks for reading! I'll update again soon!

-Phantomthiefwriter.


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